“Sorry, we don’t allow fake names.”- Facebook

About a week ago, I was so shocked when I tried to login my Facebook account and I got rejected. The reason was, MY ACCOUNT WAS DISABLED! Then, I tried the old account which I had deactivated for many weeks and would no longer use, however, it also said that my account was disabled. At that moment, I really couldn’t make my head and I felt like somebody slamming the door in my face. Thus, I visited their FAQ page and tried to dig out what had happened. Guess what? It said I used fake names. I think they don’t allow me to use “HaHa Claire” but “Claire Lam”, which is my proper English name, as my user name when I set up my account. 

Here is the email Facebook sent me and you can see they always emphasize they don't allow fake names.

Anyway, I tell you my story because I want to point out that many people construct fake social identities in the social network websites like Facebook, MySpace and Match.com etc to get a chance to date their “beautiful” internet friends nowadays. People use the social networking websites as a platform or perhaps a tool for advertising and promoting the “beautiful” side of themselves while hiding their true face simultaneously. They want to be ambitious, decent and hard-working in front of their co-workers, boss and family but they also want to act cool, handsome, playful and outgoing to their online friends. To be complete in both respects, some of them create two or above accounts for different purposes. Of course, the accounts for dating purpose are their fake identities since some people like to boast of their social status and appearance etc to impress their friends. I have a friend who is really a good example of this. He told me he has 10 Facebook accounts at least. Some of them are used for spying on his girlfriend, some of them are used for keeping contact with his old schoolmates as well as family. The rest are for flirting and meeting online girls. 

Social networking sites like Facebook and others always encourage people to provide their true identities. Unfortunately it happened that many people are usually against their “ideal” rule. It seems very ironic to see that many people just ignore the rule and continue making fake identities while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg insists, “You ( every Facebook user) have ONLY ONE identity. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.” (extracted from an article on Michael Timmer.org)

To dissect my case, the reason I used “HaHa Claire” instead of “Claire Lam” because I don’t want to reveal too much personal information about myself on the internet. I was worried that my information would be stolen and used for the commercial purposes or even illegal activities. (LOL) I know I am a bit exaggerated but it’s true that many other people have the same doubt as me! Nothing is impossible! And I didn’t use my old account because it had been hacked before.

That is why I always think that some social networking sites are not 100% safe and the people are not 100% real. It is just like online shopping. The description and picture of the products displayed in the online auction sites, let’s say Yahoo Auction, may not be 100% same as the real products. It is all about online “packaging”. Fake packaging. 

There is a question I want to ask Facebook! That is, if Facebook doesn't allow people to create fake accounts or unreal identities, why they just let people set up an account so easily? I mean, why the procedure of signing up is so simple and easy? Don't they think it is a drawback or perhaps the origin of the problem? :P